After a long night of fishing on the “Dark Side” Mike and I showed up for Rip Trip III. Me to take my reserved slot and Mike with hopes of a no show. No no-shows so Mike was off for home and bed while the rest of our great group made for South Island. We had heard a report from RT II and were expecting a fair showing of blues and fluke while waiting for the rip to set up and the bass to show. To put it simply we were disappointed. The fish were just not there or all twelve of us were screwing up and I find that hard to believe. http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Wilk.gif During the long slow period I caught one winter flounder and one 23 inch striper was landed on the outer beach. By 1:30 the rip was well formed and the “picket line” was also well formed. I had a solid strike and the line peeled from my reel. The drag screamed an acompanyment to the congratulations of the guys around me. The fish kept running and I saw my backing for the first of three times this day. I walked the fish down current to get out of everyones way and to use the softer water of the eddy to my advantage. I eventually landed the 30 incher had my picture taken and made a terribly ungracefull release but the fish seemed happy none the less to be free of my hook and clumsy hands.

I made my way back to my station and a couple of casts later hooked up again. The fish was smaller but still managed to show me my backing. As with the first one I walked it to the eddy and it conveniently released itself in the surf line. Back to my station to continue what Juro has dubbed the “Estey” swing. By this time a couple others had hooked into fish and my fear of being banished from the line diminished. About 15 minutes or so after my second fish I hooked up again. This time the fish took my magic one eyed light pink squid during the dead drift part of the swing. The fish was heavy – really heavy. I thought the line was smoking off the reel until I realized the smoke was from my palm. Ouch! The fish had burned a layer of skin from my palm. Not only was I seeing my backing for the third time of the day I was within about ten yards of seeing my arbor. I quickly worked my way down current and fought the fish for a few more minutes and eventually performed a LDR. (Man, I wish I could have at least seen that fish!) Back to the picket line and by now there were a steady number of hookups and missed hits all along the line. All the fish were fat, healthy looking and strong and with the current on their side the fights were all making our drags sing and rods bend deeply.

With the great weather, the great group of guys, and fairly willing fish later in the day we had the ingredients for a wonderful day on the water.

Sunday was spent off the water taking a newbie out for a great day of rock climbing. I’m not sure but I thought I heard some interest from some of you so if you want to give rock climbing a try drop Mike or I a line and we would love to take you out.

juro

08-28-2000, 11:13 AM

Gregg - I also had a very big rip fish on riptrip#1... I could have described it with your words but replace busted knuckles for the palm burn. I didn't walk it down the beach, which I should have done because I think the angle against the current contributed to the LDR... also very, VERY deep into the backing. Felt like it took a month to reel all that silly string back in after it shook off in the standing rip waves.

Too bad it wasn't as hot as the other trips but then again it seems like a great way to spend a gorgeous day, and I could not think of another place where you could find so much action under those conditions! Hope everyone else had a good time just the same.

Lefty

08-28-2000, 11:38 AM

Gregg- Rock Climbing? Should I bring my korkers? What line sinking or Int.? You must mean cliff fishing in the Newport R.I. area. http://216.71.206.188/images/flytalk/Wilk.gif

What a fantastic place ! South Monomoy Island...a barrier island in all its' glory and solitude. My impression, only second hand mind you, is that the fish were fat, fat, fat.
Fishing in the morning you couldn't help but snag baitfish due to the continous swarms of fish along the beach. Gregg, Nate, Dave and Pete seemed to have the right knack for the current, boy did those fish set up a strain on the long
rods. Nate was hamburger delirious by the time Rip Ryder picked us up and we were all talking about a cookout the next time. The middle of the day was warm, just right with a breeze, but slow fishing. The day really came down to a 2 hour blitz with a few strays during the AM.

Between the two days I'll bet we have the formula down though, let's check the tides and do it again !

Jay C.

Hawkeye

08-28-2000, 04:10 PM

Terry,

We use special clif wading shoes and the line is a 400wt floating.

josko

08-30-2000, 02:59 PM

Dumb question: I was passing south tip of Monomoy around 14:00 last Saturday, and there was a whole bunch of 'fly guys' all clustered at the incoming tide rip just west of the point. Must've been 10-15 of them all in there. Was that you guys?

juro

08-30-2000, 03:07 PM

Josko -

Yup, that was the saturday crew - a different crew was there on Friday as well (me included). From what I hear the Saturday action wasn't that hot in the area. What was your perspective?

Did you see any tunoids out off the tip?

josko

09-04-2000, 07:49 AM

We hooked and lost a 300+#er some 18 miles east of Monomoy, but other than that, saw very little. Most of the small tunoids seem to be in the western part of the sound. On the way back, we must have seen at least 6-8 pods on the surface simultaneously within 1/2 mile of Succonesset buoy.

Looked like you guys were having fun, although it did seem a little crowded at that one rip.